Pretty, pretty pictures
Aug. 31st, 2004 03:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
carynb
Mike & I went down to the Turner, Whistler, & Monet exhibit at the AGO on Saturday. (Note to self: The ROM is at Bloor & Avenue, the AGO is at Dundas & Beverley. They're a half-hour walk apart. Don't park at one when you're going to the other, especially when your tickets to an exhibit have an entry time associated with them. Yeah, I was that dumb. *g*)
Anyway, the exhibit was quite neat. It concentrated on all three artists' fascination with light and atmoshperic effects, particularly in 19th century London. It was really interesting to see the progression from realism (most of the Turner - he started to get impressionistic fairly late in his career, it seems) to the more dreamy impressionism that they each went through. It was also neat to see the way they each built on the other's work - Whistler's Noctures based on Turner's studies of Lake Lucerne (I think it's Lake Lucerne - it's definitely a lake in Switzerland), and Monet's paintings of the Seine in various lights that seems to be based on the Nocturnes.
All three did paintings of the same place in Venice, as well, and it was kinda neat to see how they differed, and where each artist placed the emphasis.
The exhibit was highlighting each of the three artists' fascination with the effects that London's unbelievably polluted air in the 19th century had on sunlight and moonlight, particularly around the Thames. It's kinda weird that the poison that was, apparently, killing hundreds (if not thousands) of Londoners annually is responsible for this kinda eerie beauty.
I love looking at Monet's work. I just love that way that, if you look at it too closely, you just can't figure out what's going on. For his work to make sense, you have to step back from the painting, and take a look at the whole. I think that's actually a pretty good metaphor for life, sometimes. We get caught in the details, and nothing makes any sense until we step back a little.
However, nobody does the play of light on water like Monet. Nobody.
Anyway, the exhibit was quite neat. It concentrated on all three artists' fascination with light and atmoshperic effects, particularly in 19th century London. It was really interesting to see the progression from realism (most of the Turner - he started to get impressionistic fairly late in his career, it seems) to the more dreamy impressionism that they each went through. It was also neat to see the way they each built on the other's work - Whistler's Noctures based on Turner's studies of Lake Lucerne (I think it's Lake Lucerne - it's definitely a lake in Switzerland), and Monet's paintings of the Seine in various lights that seems to be based on the Nocturnes.
All three did paintings of the same place in Venice, as well, and it was kinda neat to see how they differed, and where each artist placed the emphasis.
The exhibit was highlighting each of the three artists' fascination with the effects that London's unbelievably polluted air in the 19th century had on sunlight and moonlight, particularly around the Thames. It's kinda weird that the poison that was, apparently, killing hundreds (if not thousands) of Londoners annually is responsible for this kinda eerie beauty.
I love looking at Monet's work. I just love that way that, if you look at it too closely, you just can't figure out what's going on. For his work to make sense, you have to step back from the painting, and take a look at the whole. I think that's actually a pretty good metaphor for life, sometimes. We get caught in the details, and nothing makes any sense until we step back a little.
However, nobody does the play of light on water like Monet. Nobody.
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no subject
Date: 2004-09-01 04:23 am (UTC)It took about an hour to see all the paintings, but I'll warn you - it was really crowded.